Playing card game



Jan. 9, 1962 w. R. IRWIN 3,016,243

PLAYING CARD GAME Original Filed July 7, 1954 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 FlG.l FIG.2

illliillll@ IIIEiIIIIO @Illlliillll Mlllhlllll IIIIiLIIIIM IIIIHIJIIIM Mllllilillll MIIIIiiiIIII Mlllillll Olllliillll IIIIIEIIIIIM ||||[!!!|||M MIIIIIIIIII MIIIIMIIII llllll M llllillll M INVENTOR.

WILLIAM R. IRWIN B* Ww ATTORNEY Jan. 9, 1962 w. R. lRwlN 3,016,243

lPLAYING CARD GAME Original Filed July 7, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 M IIIIIizIIII I|I!!!||| M Illlgglll |||l}!!|||| llllggalll llllaaillll llllliaill M M .Illlllll M MMIII llllillll ll` ll Iiiiilll M Illlllzllll INVENTOR. WILLIAM R. lWlN ATTORNEY Jan. 9, 1962 w. R. IRWIN PLAYING CARD GAME 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 FIC-EJO Original Filed July 7, 1954 F I G .9 M |||ll||| lli INVENTOR. WILLIAM R. IRWIN ATTORNEY United States Patent() 3,016,243 PLAYING CARD GAME William R. Irwin, 1034 Tiffany St., Bronx 59, N.Y. Continuation of application Ser.v No. 441,915, July 7, 1954. This application June 17, 1957, Ser. No. 665,966 6 Claims. (Cl. 273-135) The present invention relates to a playing card game and more particularly to such a game employing a deck or set of playing cards each having certain areas which are opaque and other areas which are open or transparent and in which the game is played by superimposing one card over another or over a special base member.

This application is a continuation of application Serial No. 441,915, iiled July 7, 1954, and entitled Playing Card Game, which application became abandoned on lune 20, 1957.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide a card game which will be educational and entertaining to both adult and juvenile players.

Another object is to provide a word game, the playing of which will be dependent upon the ingenuity and spelling ability of the players.

Still another object is to provide a card game employing superimposable cardslwith transparent or window type areas, in which the window areas of all cards will be of an identical or complementary pattern, and which, therefore, may be inexpensively produced.

A still further object is to provide a suitable board or base for use in playing the card game. Y

Other objects and advantages will hereinafter appear.

In accordance with the present invention the opaque areas of the cards are provided with displays, such Yas letters of the alphabet, the opaque and transparent areas of the cards being so related, geometrically that the cards "ice 2 of the cards, upon which one or more of such cards may be played or disposed to produce a combination of the cards and board delineations.

The invention will best be understood by reference tov FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8 show diierent'arrangements of one j card `superimposed upon another;

may be superimposed on each other with their edges either Y in alignment or in predetermined oiiset relationwith a transparent area of one card over an opaque area of another card to form scoring combinations of the delineations of two or more cards.

In the embodiment of the invention herein disclosed the opaque and transparent or open areas thereof are of the same. size and shape and are disposed in a symmetrical pattern over the face of the cards. In one arrangement of the pattern the opaque and transparent areas of some y FIGS. 9 and l0 show the face and reverse side of a card also usable in the game; and

FIG. l1 shows a playing base having a number of cards of the form shown in FIGS. l to 4, or FIGS. 9. and l0,

rdisposed in playing relation thereon.

Referring first to FIGS.` l and 2, each of the cards A and B there shownyconsist of transparent sheet material, such as a suitable stiff plastic. These cards are illustrative of al much larger plurality of cards of identical size, shape and' pattern. Each of the cards is divided into a plurality of horizontal and vertical rows having opaque areas 10 alternating with transparent areas or windows 11. The opaque areas may be produced kon the cards by printing and may be of any desired color. or design. While con- Vtrasting divisional and border markings 12 are shownit is to b e'understood that the margins of the opaque areas 10 may define the opaque and transparent areas. Displays shown in the form of letters of the alphabet, arel disposed upon the opaque areas.

The displays consist of-unrelated letters so selected that by filling in suitable other letters in the window areas, words or parts of Words may be formed, this filling in, being accomplished by placing one card upon another in one of the manners to be described. It will be noted that the opaque areas, aside from the marginal lines 12 Vare of the same size and shape as the window areas so that when a window area is placed over an opaque area of another card,l it will just be iilled by the opaque area.

It will be further noted that the arrangement of opaque areas of the cardsof FIGS. 1 and 2 is identical so that all cards having this arrangement may be printed by the same cards are disposed in complementary or reversed position l v relative to others, when rthe delineated face of the card is disposed upwardly, whereby one card may be superimposed over another with their` edges in alignment and with the transparent areas of the upper card over the opaque areas of the underneath card sothat the composite display consists of the delineated opaque areas of both cards. v, f

In the preferred embodiment the opaque and transparent areas are arranged in a plurality of horizontal and vertical rows with the opaque and transparent areas alternating in each row whereby when one transparent area of a card is disposed over an opaque area of another card, each of the remaining superimposed transparent areas of the upper card will be alignedover an opaque area of the lower card, irrespective of whether the edges of the cards are in alignment or oset either horizontally or vertically or both.

The cards may be marked on one side only or, if desired, the delineations may appear on both sides ofthe opaque areas so that the rear of each card forms a complementary pattern to the face of the card.

The invention further contemplates a playing base, con-` forms by merely changing the letter set up therein.

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate the reverse side of the cards A and B of FIGS. l and 2 and, as will be noted these sides have the 'complementary arrangement of opaque and window areasl of the opposite side.

n The various manners in which thesecards may be com- -bined to form words is shown in FIGS. 5 ,to 8, in which FIG. 5 shows card B of FIG. 2 disposed over card Aof` FIG. 3, or vice versa, with the edges in alignment, thereby to form the two words by the interspersed characters in the vertical rows. FIG. 6 shows the opposite arrangement with card Avof FIG. 1 and card B of FIG. 4 superimposed, but incapable of forming a word. The arrangement of FIG. 5 would be a scoring combination whereas the arrangement of FIG. 6 would not. In FIG. 7 the same cards and faces used in FIG. 6 are employed in a manner to provide a scoring combination by vertically shifting card B (FIG. 4) upwardly with respect to card A (FIG. 1) thereby to form the word LODE FIG. 8 shows l these same cards and faces shifted both vertically and horizontally Vto form the word DOLE It will be understood thatl additional'cards may be added, either in alignment with the cards of FIGS. 7 and 8 or offset with respect thereto to form additional words in b oth the horizontal and vertical rows. Thus, if'th'e card of FIG. 9 was placed over card B of FIG. 8 with the upper letter A in the window space between the letters L and D a horizontal word ALE would be formed as well as a vertical word LADE Thus with a moderate number of cards a very large number of scoring possibilities are obtainable by virtue of the ability to continuously build up over an expanding area by olsetting one card with respect to the next.

The card C shown in FIG. 9 is of the same pattern as that shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 and differs therefrom only in having delineations on one side only, as shown by the undelineated reverse side, constituting FIG. 10. This has the advantage of masking the delineations when the cards are disposed face down, as in dealing or Adrawing from the deck. Such single faced cards are particularly suitable for children in view of their more simple nature and are well adapted for playing upon a prepared board or base. They may, of course be arranged in the pattern of FIG. 9 or the complement thereof, or both.

FIG. 11 shows a suitable base 15 upon which a form of the game may be played. It may comprise a material such as fabric, cardboard or a table top having vertical and horizontal divisions forming a plurality of rows of areas 16 of equal size and spacing to the opaque and window areas of the cards. These areas 16 are selectively imprinted with letters of the alphabet which are combinable with the delineations of the cards to form composite words. By way of example the card, B of FIG. 1 isV shown in playing position on the base 15 so as to form the word PUNT Near the center of the base a card D and card A of FIG. 1 are shown overlying the base member and disposed in oiset relation to each other so as to form the works SIGI-I, GGNE and BEES- Here again words may be formed along both vertical and horizontal lines by judicious placement of the overlying cards. The use of such a base greatly reduces the number ofcards required to build up a large number of words, the board shown being substantially equal in this respect to a full deck of cards. It desired, of course, both sides of the base may bear letter displays for playing purposes.

The game may be' played in a variety ofways, such as by the players, each in turn, drawing a card from the deck and endeavoring to combine it with cards previously drawn or dealt or by playing it in a word forming location on the playing board, scoring being eiected in accordance with the number of words formed or the number of letters used in the word formations and, if desired, with eXtra points for common letters used informing a plurality of words.k

It will be understood, of course, that modifications may be made in the pattern of opaque area employed and in other details of the cards and playing base without departing from the essential attributes of the invention and I contemplate all' such changes and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. The combination of a set of playing cards having a plurality of opaque areas and window areas, said areas of all cards being of substantially equal size and shape and disposed in a geometric pattern in which, when any two of said cards are superimposed, in one position thereof all of the window areas of each card will be in register and, when superimposed in another position thereof all of the window areas of each card will be in register with an member being divided into elemental areas corresponding in size and spacing to the opaque and window areas of said cards and at least some of said elemental areas bearing delineations combinable with the delineations on said cards to form composite delineations when said cards are overlayed either separately or in superimposed groups on said base member.

2. The combination of a set of playing cards having a' plurality of opaque areas and window areas, said areas of all cards being of substantially equal size and shape and disposed in a geometric pattern in which any two cards may be superimposed with a window area of the upper card in register with each opaque area of the lower card throughout the super-imposed areas of said cards, whereby all of the opaque areas of both cards are exposed, each of said opaque areas of all cards having letters of the alphabet thereon whereby any two of said cards may be arranged in a plurality of super-imposed relations to thereby combine the letter characters of one card variously with the letter characters of ano-ther card, and a playing base member of a larger area than that of each of said cards, said base member being divided into elemental areas corresponding in size and spacing to the opaque and transparent areas of said cards and at least some of said elemental areas bearing letter characters combinable with the letter characters on said cards to form word combinations when said cards are overlayed either separately or in superimposed groups on said base member.

3. A set of playing cards as defined in claim 2 in which the opaque and window areas of each card are equal in number, and arranged in a pattern in which the opaque and transparent areas arepin alternating relationship whereby any two of said cards may be superimposed with any character of one card disposed adjacent to any character of the other card.

4. A set of playing cards as delined in claim 3 in which said pattern comprises a plurality of horizontal and vertical rows of alternating opaque and transparent areas.

5. A set of playing cards as defined in claim 2 in which said letter characters are disposed on each face of the cards whereby said cards may be played with either face up to produce Word forming combinations.

6. A card game comprising a set of cards and a base member having a size many times ythat of each of said cards, said base member having a plurality of horizontal and vertical rows of characters imprinted thereon and said cards having vertical and horizontal rows of opaque areas alternating with window areas, said opaque areas and window areas being of the same size and said opaque areas having characters imprinted thereon, the size and position of said window and opaque areas being zrelated to the spacing of the characters on said base so that when a card is placed on said base with one'window area in register with `fa' character of said base, the remaining window areas will be in register with other characters of said base, whereby said card and base characters may be combined in one or more continuous rows to form scoring combinations.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

